We actually did not want to ally with Tartarus first. I approached Paraideisius all the way back then, and then very quickly the Archangels got a letter of protest from Pandemonium about how dare they break some ancient vow the two worlds had between each other. Both worlds were locked in a bloodless conflict against each other. If I could inquire about this, I would ask Kassandora. I am sure the Goddess of War would have some creative way to describe a war in which all the fighting is done through an arms race. Yet she is locked in the Lower Prison of Olympiada now, and it would look terrible if I decided to visit a Goddess that everyone knows I was close to.

So I write this to state on paper that we did not want to ally with Tartarus. It feels more real when I see the text in paper. Was it a mistake? Helenna found the workaround to their ancient vow. Since all had to be equal between the two worlds, since one could not join for that would tip the balance, why could both not join? Ultimately though, I cannot lay the blame at Helenna’s feet. I pushed her to find a solution for she was against allying with either world in the first place. I introduced the idea when I represented Arda before them.

And both of them agreed.

I suppose it was that eagerness of seeing foreign worlds suddenly come in to sweep through Arda which galvanized opinion amongst humanity. We won the moment the portals opened, for the difference in scale was so huge that neither of them actually considered Arascus to be a real opponent. For the first few years after they joined, Arda was little more than a world-sized weapons testing site to show to each other. I suppose I should have called it off. Sometimes I even ponder the most treacherous thoughts, which is what if we, the White Pantheon, had swapped sides. Could we have won? I do not know.

But that did not happen. What happened was that the Empire adapted. New tactics were introduced, new weapons were made, new sorceries were theorized, new ideas were created. The First Siege of Tourai ended in Maisara’s defeat. Kassandora seized the opportunity. Legions and beastmen tore through Pantheon frontlines. And we saw three entire Legions of Tartarus and a full Orchestra of Angels encircled by Imperial Forces. All eight Daughter-Divines along with Arascus himself descended upon them. The next Three-World-Meeting had their diplomats reeling in shock at how this puny little runt of a world could actually force them a step back.

After that, both Paraideisius and Tartarus realised that they had to take Arascus seriously.

I ordered Helenna to give up on the propaganda war. There was simply no way we could win with the tragedies they were committing.

Why I write this, I do not really know. There is indeed a part of me that hopes these excerpts will be found sometime in the future and that someone will read them. It is not even in some attempt to convince them of my own righteousness. It is so that whoever reads this will find out that no matter what happened, I was not some deranged lunatic that tried to defeat Arascus out of sheer bitterness.

– Excerpt from the Diary of Goddess Allasaria, Of Light.

Prince Trazim has asked me to compile the Kuya Report. It shall be done, what is locally referred to as “Hold Kua” is a dwarven settlement of small to medium size. It was successfully seized during the recent successful push through the Ardan Continental Rift (ACR). The local dwarven populace did manage to successfully evacuate as two weeks were spent on breaching the single defensive gate they had. An unconfirmed adversary (UA) suddenly appeared and started assisting the dwarves. We are uncertain and reports are unspecific about what was happening. The survivors are sparse, and they have obviously been shaken by the events. Any accounts are obviously to be taken with a grain of salt, however rumour or fabrication or not, they do raise potential questions about what is happening on Arda.

One thing we do know for certain is that this is the first time that we have been forced out of a, as they call it, “Hold” since the Era of the Arascus War.

• Kuya Report, introduction. Written by Duke Be’al.

Kassandora’s Orchestra stood silently and directed her Orchestra.

I was in the first line. We were there, cavalry was assisting us, we had the full support of flamespeakers behind us. I am sure you know what it looks like when the horde starts to run. We charge forward, we scream, we saw them. We were this far away. [Alrich demonstrates with his hands]. They had the bones pulling dragons. We were overwhelming them like… well, we had won. It was chasing the survivors down at that point. [Alrich trails off].

[I asked him to continue] I do not know what happened. You run, you see the pikes ahead of you. You feel yourself jumping over a body. It was the heat of battle. And then it just stopped. We heard explosions from the side. And we started dropping. I can’t say anything more than that. Our forces just started dying out of nowhere. Even greater demons suddenly were just… Explosions just happened on them. It was like magic. Like the land and air itself decided to just… It wasn’t a battle because what we’re we fighting? It was just these explosions and that’s it.

And then… [Alrich sighs] Kill me if you wish, but that is what happened. I threw down my blade and I ran. You would have done the same.

• Kuya Report, account of Legionnaire Alrich Yelazim. 31^st Legion, Vanguard Horde.

Kassandora had killed a Divine the size of a Jungle.

What happened in Kuya was a nightmare. I was on the first line. The commander said we were turning Kuya into a supply post and to fortify the gate from the other side. You know how it is. [Samach laughs nervously]. I suppose I shouldn’t be saying this. [I advise him to continue and assure him we are looking for the truth here]. I mean, it when has there ever been a counter attack? We had just chased them out. I know we should have been fortifying the main gate, but we couldn’t close because boys were running back. We ran up the stairs, up the walls, got through those tiny doors onto their crenulations and then…

And then, well I didn’t. I couldn’t fit through the door. It was the smaller imps that could. I just looked through an arrow slit. There, in the distance, there was… I don’t know how to describe it. It was just a white line of spots. They were blinding, you couldn’t see a thing. I swear, even the fireseer couldn’t look into the light. We didn’t know if it was moving towards us or not. One of the imps fired a bow at them.

I don’t think-well, it was impossible to hit at that distance. The arrow wouldn’t have even gotten half the way. But the imp fired and then I heard thunder. Thunder underground, and it was a thunder I had never heard before. It was so fast and rapid, it was like drums beating. [Samach takes a pause.]

The wall then blew up. [I inquire for more of an explanation]. There is nothing else to say. There was thunder and then a moment later everyone on the crenulations was annihilated. The men running back started to drop. We had greater demons trying to push the gate closed in time. They were… I don’t know. The air ripped them apart. I got a wound too, look.

[Samach shows off a small circular wound on his shoulder. It is reminiscent of a spear stab or maybe an arrow wound? But far smaller. There is an entry wound on his front and an exit wound on his back.]

• Kuya Report, account of Legionnaire Samach Relich, 31^st Legion, Construction and Materials Section.

Kassandora had pioneered a Continent Cracking.

When they got through the main gate. I… I mean, there was nothing you could do. It was people, humans, I know that, I saw them from a distance… but… there was nothing anyone could do. It was people, but they moved like one. I saw them wield these guns, but it wasn’t… [Illkanich falls silent for a minute, he is obviously thinking about something. I let him sit in silence].

How do you even fight against something like that? I saw demons jump out of nowhere and then men from the other side of the street, or from a window, or from a parapet would just fell them. There wasn’t even a thought. The moment anyone stepped into view of anyone, they would… [Illkanich mimics the motion of getting shot]. How could you even fight against that? It was as if they shared vision and shared movement. Really, it sounds crazy, because humans are obviously not a hive-mind, but that’s the only way I’d describe it. It was a hivemind. Those… [Illkanich obviously wants to say, I give him pause for a moment].

It was an army where they had individuals, obviously it was, but you could see it in their eyes. They all had the same expression. It was I don’t know how many, thousands? But you could tell that even though there were that many, it was all one mind.

And the worst part was, whatever that mind was, you could see it was enjoying it. All of them were smiling. I can’t even doing. It was the most terrible smile I’ve ever seen in my entire life.

• Kuya Report, account of Cavalryman Illkanich Asaras, 31^st Legion, Black Knight Detachment.

Kassandora had forced Be’elzebub back without a single magician by her side.

After the retreat, we got to the city fighting. I rallied the troops, the remaining men from the Vanguard Horde I mean. The other groups were all split amongst themselves. We were looting the Hold, demons were everywhere, down at the bottom and up at the top. I mean, it was an inhabited Hold when we got to it so the dwarves left a lot of treasures to take, but when the central gate fell.

[For a moment, Massiom falls silent as he thinks about his words. He chuckles]. Ahhh, I shouldn’t laugh but there was just nothing to do. [Massiom slams his hands down on the table]. Let me set you the scene, I saw them pour through the gate. Or I just saw blinking silhouettes, they blinded us with lights from what, I just don’t know. It was just pure beams of the harshest white light in existence. They set them up on these machines that would spin. If that beam caught you, it was over. If it passed over you, it was over. If it even touched you, then it was over.

Those humans, they weren’t human. They spilled through the gate and they ran. I’ve read the history books, I mean, haven’t we all? But it said in the past that humans would advance cautiously and dig wherever they could. Not these. They raced through doors. They sprinted down streets. And the worst part was that they were untouchable. I saw three Legionnaires try to ambush one man, ONE MAN! [Massiom slams the table again].

And nothing! They were maybe a stride away. They had their blades in the air. No one even managed begin a swing. They were shot from half way across the fucking Hold and how? I just don’t know! And that man didn’t even flinch, he just kept running and disappeared behind a wall. I saw… I don’t know, a dozen of these engagements maybe. Each time it was the exact same.

Honestly, and maybe I shouldn’t say this but you wanted honesty. They fought perfectly. That’s how I would describe it. There is nothing to learn or nothing to exploit. At first I thought they were just without caution and charging ahead but then I realised that it wasn’t that, each man always was perfectly covered by some other, and it was… I mean, you just couldn’t do anything. When we thought we could exploit a mistake and kill one. JUST ONE! Of them, we just ended walking up into a trap.

And it was all of them. They didn’t stop. They didn’t slow down. I don’t think they even ate. There is nothing to learn from them because it was a theoretical army like the ones you read about in training books. The thought experiments you have to defeat. It was the most perfect army I have ever seen.

Honestly, it was ghosts or phantoms. I don’t believe it was humans. Humans just can’t operate like that.

It’s just not true.

I know I saw it, but it’s just not true.

• Kuya Report, account of Field-Sergeant Massiom Yura, 31^st Legion, Vanguard Horde.

Kassandora had singlehandedly directed a century long conflict.

Oh no, when they advanced, I thought at first they were just making last hurrah of a thrust and that the Vanguard Horde had been defeated by just sheer ferocity and nothing else. But then, when I saw their soldiers and these men, I can’t tell you what colour of clothes they even wore. The entire Hold was just filled with these blinding white lights and with constant explosions. The only time you saw them, it was a silhouette and then you had to avert your eyes. Honestly, it was that bright where that I saw soldiers go blind because they blinked the wrong way.

But back to that push, they advanced along the central highway and seized as much ground as possible at the start. I was ordered to fall back at that point, honestly that order saved my life. We originally were planning to form up and counter attack when they slowed down, but they didn’t slow down. They pushed through the entire Hold, the entire central bridge, they secured the main ways into the depths, they blocked us off. That was the point when you realise there isn’t going to be a counter-attack because this is some other kind of army. I’ve never seen anything like them, it’s basic tactical sense to give an opponent a route of escape so that they don’t fight to the last man.

What these humans did was purposefully cut off as many of us in the depths of the Hold. At first, you think it was prisoners. No. They started clearing streets and clearing buildings. They advanced so far ahead so quickly because there was no going through them. We could slow hope to slow them down when they attacked, trying to break through their lines was impossible. The moment they advanced far enough to block off your route of escape, you were done for. [Maxim nods to himself]. Do you have anyone who made it out of their encirclement?

[I do not].

I told you so. And honestly, against the organisation they had, you simply could not do anything. Hundreds of men would check entire streets at once and the only thing you heard was gunfire when they came across one of us that wanted to hide. I genuinely do not believe there is a single member of the 31^st left in that Hold, because you could just see in their smiles that they left nothing.

[I ask about the smiles, for they have been mentioned several times already].

I don’t know how to describe it. I don’t think it was evil or wicked. Well, it was wicked and wide, but you could just see the genuine enjoyment on their faces. [I ask whether he believes they were for some morale shock tactic as has been suggested]. No. They weren’t faking it. There was no chance. Those were terrible smiles, but they were honest.

• Kuya Report, account of Legionnaire Maxim Ter’inger, 31^st Legion, Auxiliary Horde.

Kassandora’s Militarized Magic was the foundation for all modern schools of the art.

I was in one of the combat mechs. The Vanguard Horde has pushed ahead, as they always do, and they were clearing out the survivors. I saw them retreat, I saw the bright lights in the distance but it was so far it was obviously out of range. So I just stood the mech up, charged up the magma vats, and then…

Well, then I did nothing. I leaned out of the cockpit to shout something to the boys on the ground and a shell hit my cockpit. It just ripped straight through, the armour did absolutely nothing. The magma vat got hit, the mech collapsed. The whole corps was annihilated in moments. It was only one shot each. There was absolutely no chance we could stand against them. They were…

Well, it was so accurate that I just want to say that if the Mechanical Corp faces whatever I just faced, it has no chance whatsoever. There needs to be an improvement, or a re-design, or something but the fact of the matter is that they are no longer steel behemoths but rather steel caskets.

In some fashion though, I know I should not say this, the fact they destroyed my mech that quickly is what saved my life. I was told to retreat. The men who stayed all died.

• Kuya Report, account of Pilot Sulich Rethorn, 31^st Legion, Mechanical Corp.

And Kassandora was more than proud of her own achievements.

We got annihilated in the first few minutes of the battle. I lost three sisters just like that. [Soshka snaps her fingers]. Normally, in a battle like that, you want to stay in the air, but no. The moment you revealed yourself, you were short down by some new form of crossbow. Or bolt thrower maybe. I don’t know what it was, but it was loud. I tried to burn out of those glowing lights, I realised that they build entirely out of steel and other metals. I don’t know if they prepared for us, or if they were just accidentally lucky, but whatever the metal was, the melting point was so high that I would probably need to get within touching distance to even start deforming it.

[I ask about the human soldiers].

The humans? No. That’s my answer. I would not engage them again. At least the huge steel things with treads, they had this turret at the top you could see and avoid. It didn’t even have the ability to shoot up. But that just didn’t matter, the men on the ground were worse. You were sure that they didn’t see you, and then a shot would just fly out of nowhere to fell you. Just like that, from the other side of the Hold even when you were sure you hadn’t been spotted from there.

I would not fight them again. Not like that at least. That was a slaughter. I’m lucky to be alive and I do not even mean it to be sweet. Genuinely, the only reason I am still here is because it was my sisters who were shot first. And by the time they got to me, I had disappeared behind a building.

Flight in those conditions is just suicide. That’s all I have to say on it.

• Kuya Report, account of Succubus-Witch, Soshka Miliveir, 31^st Legion, Flamedancer Corp

Did they really forget what it meant to go up against the incarnation of humanity’s most primal vice?

What I saw is nothing. I do not believe it was ghosts like I’ve heard some of the troops mention, but I do believe that it was some monster or some ancient force. How, I don’t really know, but I think that is why my mind speculates, but they obviously knew about Fireseering. A part of me wishes to say that the dwarves explained to this thought about how to block fireseering but I just don’t believe it. They were too efficient with the flames compared to the dwarves, and they even knew the distances we can jump. Dwarves just eliminate fire. And…

[Fireseer Elo obviously is struggling to say something].

They captured a Fireseerer’s soul. They captured and extinguished a Fireseerer’s soul and it wasn’t done with a mage or anything, it was done through the classical method. They forced him to jump onto one of these huge vehicles that was burning, and then that vehicle drove off. It took him behind a lead wall. By the time we realised, there was no way out of the prison. He started to scream, obviously something was happening on the other side, but they knew about the properties of lead enough to block his messaging. They stole the man’s soul and they forced it into the air.

Who knows that lead blocks our speech? And who knows that you can a flame behind a lead wall to drive it insane? And, better yet, even most Fireseers can’t see the direction in which the flame sends messages. I can’t do it, I just know it’s possible because the masters are so consistent that it is obviously not luck for them. There must be some method, but what, I do not know.

[I ask Fireseer Elo for his opinion on who or what it could have been].

I mean… [Fireseer Elo has to build himself up to answer]. The last time such an enemy has even been written about was during the Arascus War. I am not suggesting anything of course, but I have to say that it does make me think. Especially with the fact they worked out the direction of the flame messaging. It could have just been accident, but I don’t think so. They very obviously knew what they were doing. That’s the part that makes me think the most. How many of Arascus’ allies even knew how to do that?

• Kuya Report, account of Fireseer Elo, Flamebearer Temple, attached as an auxiliary to the 31^st

Did they think they had permission to even exist on this world?

What I saw? [Anatoli leans back and shakes his head. A cigarette jogs his memory]. How do you describe it even? What I saw was a swarm of soldiers run over us without taking a single loss in return. We just could not even touch them. What I saw was myth incarnate. What’s the losses? It’s like four in five, right? [I confirm the 31^st Legion took a staggering figure of 81% losses. Anatoli nods and accepts it].

Aye, that sounds about right. If you were there, you’d see. The only hope you had at survival was dropping your weapons and just running and hoping you were fast enough to outrun their eyes. The moment they saw you, you were shot. Just like that, and it would be from another angle. Mmh, what I saw wasn’t even a battle. It was just a slaughter. Whatever that army was, when it poured through the gate, we had no way of stopping it. I genuinely believe that if we managed to force them into tunnel attritional warfare, we would do better.

No, not even that. It wasn’t even a battle or a victory for them. What I saw was a river smashing through a sandcastle. They didn’t even us thought. Have they pushed out of Kuya yet? [I confirm that they have]. Not surprising, we honestly could not even put a dent in them. What I saw was an adult coming across a child and just smacking it down. A baby. I mean…

No. Wrong too.

I saw annihilation. Utter and total annihilation. I saw the truest form of warfare to ever exist.

That’s what I saw.

• Kuya Report, Captain Anatoli Yurkom, 31^st Legion, Rearguard Horde.

Victory was a damn addictive feeling.

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